Snark, Crackle, Pop Culture: Fights on Facebook

For a couple days in a row something horrific was showing up on my Facebook News Feed. Some of my friends were liking videos of fights that were recorded and posted on a particular Facebook page dedicated to such things. Someone just recorded a fight in a park and tossed it up on Facebook.

Actually hundreds of people recorded fights and tossed them up on Facebook. School fights, girl fights, crazy fights, ratchet fights. All recorded and posted for people to see and ohhh and ahhh over. I’m sure this has been going on for some time (like since the invention of video recording capabilities on cell phones) but it caught my attention when it showed up on my News Feed because former youth group students of mine ‘liked’ it.

I’m not surprised by school fights…I watched my fair share in middle school and high school. I’m not surprised people record fights and post them…people record everything. I’m not at all surprised people watch them, and I’m not surprised these guys liked them. The only guy who probably was surprised (once he woke up) was the victim of a pretty brutal roundhouse kick to the head.

That’s the problem, though, isn’t it? We’re not surprised. This stuff is the norm and we eat it up. In fact, this is just another example of the crazy things that excite us and the measures we’ll take to get a few likes or shares on Facebook.

Have you had this pop up in your News Feed recently like I have? How do you respond to this with your students?

Rather than bemoan or simply react or respond to negative uses of technology, shouldn’t the Church be on the forefront of creating too? The combination of video and social media sites can be put to so much good in bringing messages of hope in the Gospel rather than violence! What good uses of video and social media have you seen in the church? Does your church use video in its social media presence effectively?